Before Elvis Presley passed away on August 16, 1977, he spent his last night and early morning with his cousin Billy Smith.
Billy is arguably one of the last people ever to have a conversation with Elvis. The Memphis Mafia member and his wife Jo joined Elvis and his girlfriend Ginger Alden for racquetball around 3:30 a.m. the night before Elvis died. After concluding the game at Elvis’ personal Graceland court, the group made their way to the mansion just after six in the morning.
On the Memphis Mafia Kid YouTube channel, Billy recalled the last conversation he had with the music icon. The two had ventured upstairs to the bathroom, where Billy helped Elvis dry his hair. At the time, neither Elvis nor Billy had any inclination that The King would die in the same room merely seven hours later. In fact, the pair chatted about the future.
“This is going to be the best tour ever,” Elvis said.
Elvis was scheduled to fly to Portland, Maine that evening to perform at a string of concerts. Elvis appeared excited about the latest shows, and Billy was quick to support his cousin.
“All of them to me are great. I know you’ll do everything you can to make it as good as you can,” Billy stated.
In response, Elvis shared his doubts that his concerts met expectations. The comment was particularly personal because Elvis did not talk about his shows very often. Afterward, the group ended the night around 7 a.m., and The King bid Billy and Jo goodnight.
“We’ve got big things to do, we’re going to do big things,” Elvis told the pair after telling the couple he loved them.
Billy and Jo returned home before receiving a phone call just hours later that Ginger had found Elvis dead on the bathroom floor around 1:30 p.m. the same afternoon.
Check out more of Billy’s stories about Elvis in the video below.